D&D 5E Planescape, Bigby, Phandelver and the Deck of Many Things: Covers & Details Revealed!

The covers of the upcoming D&D books — including Planescape, Glory of the Giants, and the Deck of Many Things have been revealed.

• August 15th -- Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants ($59.95)
• August 15th -- The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons ($39.95)
• September 19th -- Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk ($59.95)
• October 16th -- Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse ($TBA)
• November 14th -- Book of Many Things ($TBA)

Coming August 15th with two variants. Lore about giants, 76 stat blocks, feats, and a giant subclass.

3 hardcovers in a boxed set-- 96 page guide to Sigil, 64-page bestiary, and 96-page adventure, along with a poster map and DM screen. Coming October 16th.

224-page adventure for levels 1-12, poster map, 16 new monsters. Coming September 19th.

66 illustrated cards, 192-page book with lore, character options, magic items, and monsters, 80-page card reference guide, all in a slipcase. Coming November 14th.​

These Are Dungeons & Dragons' New Products For 2023

New books for the fantasy role-playing game include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and a look at the legendary Deck of Many Things.

themessenger.com

 

[Demetrios1453]

The Deck of Many Things is actually a set, the cards themselves, plus two books in a slipcase.

 

[Maxperson]

These Are Dungeons & Dragons' New Products For 2023

New books for the fantasy role-playing game include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and a look at the legendary Deck of Many Things.

themessenger.com

Lots of interesting stuff here! It looks like Planescape will focus mainly on Sigil and the Outlands in the 96-page setting book, which is fine by me (it would be hard to cover all the Planes - better to concentrate on the important, central part of the setting.

That's what I was afraid of. It's not going to be Planescape, it's going to be Sigil and a very small portion of the planes. And I bet Sigil will receive the same few pages that The Rock of Bral got. I will not be bilked out of money for this one like I was for Spelljammer. I'll buy again when they produce an actual quality setting.

 

[Demetrios1453]

That's what I was afraid of. It's not going to be Planescape, it's going to be Sigil and a very small portion of the planes. And I bet Sigil will receive the same few pages that The Rock of Bral got. I will not be bilked out of money for this one like I was for Spelljammer. I'll buy again when they produce an actual quality setting.

The book title is "Sigil and the Outlands", which means most if not all the pages will be covering... Sigil and the Outlands. At worst, Sigil will be half that book, and likely closer to 2/3 or 3/4. Even the description in the article states it's focusing mainly on Sigil.

 

[Maxperson]

The book title is "Sigil and the Outlands", which means most if not all the pages will be covering... Sigil and the Outlands. At worst, Sigil will be half that book, and likely closer to 2/3 or 3/4.

The book title is under the heading, "Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse." Sigil and the Outlands are not even close to being the multiverse. And since it follows the format of Spelljammer, it's not even likely to be much of a setting at all.

All making Sigil 1/2 to 3/4 of the book does is make it even less of a setting. What you are describing is even worse than what I was describing, and I was describing an abject failure of a setting.

Anyway, I don't want to threadcrap so I'm done talkin about this in the thread. Feel free to send me a private conversation if you'd like to discuss it further.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I'm actually relieved that they've opted to focus on Sigil and the Outlands rather than try to cram the full Great Wheel into 96 pages.

I want a fully-fledged Manual of the Planes as much as anyone, but that would be an entire sourcebook on its own. The Great Wheel can survive being lightly touched on for the time being, letting the DMG and various adventure modules pick up the slack, but if they're doing Planescape, it is pivotal that they get Sigil right.

And with luck, we can still get a proper Manual of the Planes somewhere down the line.

As an aside, we only get a cover for one, but in the article, we seemingly get book names for the entire Planescape slipcase:
Sigil and the Outlands - 96 page players' handbook/setting guide
Morte's Planar Parade - 64 page bestiary
Turn of Fortune's Wheel - 96 page adventure module

The Fortune's Wheel is the name of a rather upscale gambling hall in Sigil, and one of the regular haunts of Shemeshka the Marauder, so chances seem good that the King of the Crosstrade will be involved, if only tangentially.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'm actually relieved that they've opted to focus on Sigil and the Outlands rather than try to cram the full Great Wheel into 96 pages.

I want a fully-fledged Manual of the Planes as much as anyone, but that would be an entire sourcebook on its own. The Great Wheel can survive being lightly touched on for the time being, letting the DMG and various adventure modules pick up the slack, but if they're doing Planescape, it is pivotal that they get Sigil right.

And with luck, we can still get a proper Manual of the Planes somewhere down the line.

That's my opinion as well. Focusing on Sigil and the Outlands at the expense of the rest of the Planes is far better than the other way round...

 

[TheSword]

Well well well, Planescape is being released on my Birthday! That’s a good sign.

Very pleased to see that a decent sized adventure will be part of the set. 96 pages is not to be sneezed at. Plus 64 pages of bestiary and 94 pages of setting stuff.

I love Sigil and think it’s a great starting off point. We couldn’t possibly get anything like full coverage of the infinite planes of existence. I’d prefer they not even try. Give me some good examples in the adventure and make Sigil detailed enough to be the hub, that’s where most of the juicy faction stuff starts anyway.

Really looking forward to this, then I will let @GuyBoy get the Phandelver campaign that I would love to be a player in. I know he’s DMd it before, whereas I’ve only ever used and read the goblin caves.

 

[lvl20dm]

Planescape, as described, sounds very similar in content to the original campaign boxed set. It had 64 pages on the planes, 96 on Sigil and the Outlands, a ~30 page monster book, and a player book that was, I believe 30-34 pages. This has a 96 page book on Sigl/the Outlands (with player options built in), a 64 page monster book, and a 96 page adventure, which it sounds like it might be focused on the Outlands (as in - even more setting material).

 

[ersatzphil]

Oooo, confirmation that the alt art for Planescape has been done by DiTerlizzi.

 

[lvl20dm]

The Book of Many Things is going to be a boxed set as well (I don't recall them telling us that before). We get the main book, a deck of cards, and an 80 page book to help you use the cards.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There's been a Manual of the Planes type product for like almost every edition, hasn't there? Is there anything they could possibly put in a 5E version that wouldn't merely be a duplicate of stuff we can already get from all the other books? Is any of it worth getting your hopes up or bent out of shape over?

 

[Demetrios1453]

There's been a Manual of the Planes type product for like almost every edition, hasn't there? Is there anything they could possibly put in a 5E version that wouldn't merely be a duplicate of stuff we can already get from all the other books? Is any of it worth getting you hopes up or bent out of shape over?

The various Planescape boxed sets are available on the DMs Guild, and those give plenty of detail. The 5e DMG gives a decent overview of Planes as well.

 

[Maxperson]

Planescape, as described, sounds very similar in content to the original campaign boxed set. It had 64 pages on the planes, 96 on Sigil and the Outlands, a ~30 page monster book, and a player book that was, I believe 30-34 pages. This has a 96 page book on Sigl/the Outlands (with player options built in), a 64 page monster book, and a 96 page adventure, which it sounds like it might be focused on the Outlands (as in - even more setting material).

Original Setting
64 pages on the planes
96 pages on the Sigil and the Outlands
30ish pages for players.

Total: 180ish pages of setting and covered all of the planes

New Boxed Set
96 pages on Sigil and the Outlans

Total: Around half the setting material of the original boxed set, not more.

I would have liked to see a 200-250ish page setting book that gave us the entire setting. Planescape is one of my favorite settings. The Sword Coast Adventure Guide has shown us that once WotC has released a sliver of a setting, they don't finish it up.

Edit: I missed that you were talking about the adventure adding more. It will probably add a bit, but still fall way short of the original amount of setting material.

 

[Parmandur]

Somehow the Deck of Many Things product feels even more mysterious...

 

[Demetrios1453]

The Book of Many Things is going to be a boxed set as well (I don't recall them telling us that before). We get the main book, a deck of cards, and an 80 page book to help you use the cards.

I'm quite pleased that the cards come with the set. When we thought it was just a single book, I assumed the cards would have to be purchased separately.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Original Setting
64 pages on the planes
96 pages on the Sigil and the Outlands
30ish pages for players.

Total: 180ish pages of setting and covered all of the planes

New Boxed Set
96 pages on Sigil and the Outlans

Total: Around half the setting material of the original boxed set, not more.

I would have liked to see a 200-250ish page setting book that gave us the entire setting. Planescape is one of my favorite settings. The Sword Coast Adventure Guide has shown us that once WotC has released a sliver of a setting, they don't finish it up.

Edit: I missed that you were talking about the adventure adding more. It will probably add a bit, but still fall way short of the original amount of setting material.

The 64 page book on the planes was very light on info. Each plane received at most 2 pages of information, with room taken up by illustrations, and a very large font. The 5e DMG probably has more info on the planes than that book did.

 

[Maxperson]

The 64 page book on the planes was very light on info. Each plane received at most 2 pages of information, with room taken up by illustrations, and a very large font. The 5e DMG probably has more info on the planes than that book did.

I have it. 2e did put out much more later, though. I own those as well. That's why I say a 200-250 page book, probably at that upper end, would have been better for a 5e setting. Those extra 20-70 pages could have been devoted to the various planes and include information not in the DMG.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I have it. 2e did put out much more later, though. I own those as well. That's why I say a 200-250 page book, probably at that upper end, would have been better for a 5e setting. Those extra 20-70 pages could have been devoted to the various planes and include information not in the DMG.

I agree, I would have preferred a single big Planescape book covering both Sigil and the Great Wheel, but that's not the decision that was made.

Given the decision to make the 5e Planescape release a three-book slipcase, I think focusing on Sigil and the Outlands is the right choice.

 

[BovineofWar]

My inclination/fear is that Planescape 5e is not going to answer any of the cosmological questions, e.g. Is the Great Wheel still around, or does the World Axis model take precedence? At least anymore than the existing 5e books do.

We'll get the description of Sigil and the Outlands, and DM tools for having players go through portals to reach weird and wacky places. I don't think WotC is interested in the kind of World Building exercise that a series of Planar Boxsets previously entailed.